Common Mantis - an insect that belongs to the family of real mantis. This is the most common representative of the species in Europe.
Description
This is a fairly large insect. The common mantis, the sizes of which range from 42 to 52 mm (males) and from 48 to 75 mm (females), is a predator. It has forelimbs adapted to hold food. Praying mantis is part of the cockroach-like order, forming a numerous species, consisting of three thousand subspecies.
The name was given to him by Karl Linnaeus, a great systematist who noticed that the pose of a mantis, when he was sitting in an ambush, very much resembles a man with his hands folded in prayer. Therefore, the scientist called him Mantis religiosa, which translates as "religious priest."
Coloring
You probably know the common mantis from school biology textbooks. The type of color is very variable, ranging from yellow or green to dark brown or brown-gray. Usually it corresponds to the habitat, matches the color of grass, stones and leaves.
The most common green or white-yellow color. In older individuals, the outfit is paler. Dark brown spots appear on the body with age. This is due to the fact that the body stops the production of vital amino acids: methionine, leucine, tryptophan, etc. Under laboratory conditions, when these substances are added to food, the insect's life is almost doubled - up to four months. This is the maximum period that an ordinary mantis can live.
Biological features
These insects have well-developed wings, they fly well, but males move like that, and only at night, and during the day they allow themselves to occasionally flush from branch to branch. Praying Mantis has four wings. Two of them are dense and narrow, and the other two are thin and wide. They are able to open like a fan.
The head of a mantis is triangular in shape, very mobile, connected to the chest. It can rotate 180 degrees. This insect has well developed forepaws, which have powerful and sharp spikes. With their help, it grabs its victim, and then eats it.
The photo of the common mantis, which you can see below, clearly demonstrates that this insect has well-developed eyes. It is distinguished by excellent vision. The predator, being in an ambush, monitors the environment and instantly reacts to moving objects. He approaches the prey and grabs it with strong paws. After this, the victim has no chance to survive.
Unlike males that feed on rather small insects, heavy large females prefer their cousins of the same, and sometimes larger size than them. An interesting story related to a female mantis, told E. Thiel. He watched a funny situation on the street of one of the cities of America. Car traffic was stopped. Drivers watched with interest the duel between the sparrow and the mantis. Surprisingly, the insect won the battle, and the sparrow had to retire from the battlefield with shame.
Photo of an ordinary mantis, habitat
Praying mantis is distributed quite widely in the south of Europe - from Portugal to Ukraine and Turkey. He did not bypass the islands of the Mediterranean Sea (Corsica, Balearic, Sicily, Sardinia, Aegean islands, Malta, Cyprus). It is often found in Sudan and Egypt, in the Middle East from Iran to Israel, on the Arabian Peninsula.
The habitat of the common mantis covers the southern regions of our country. Presumably introduced to the eastern United States, New Guinea, in 1890. From these territories he populated almost all of America and the south of Canada. At the very beginning of this century, a mantis was discovered in Costa Rica. There is no officially confirmed evidence that the common mantis was found in Jamaica, Australia and Bolivia.
In Europe, the northern border of the range passes through countries and regions such as Belgium and France, Tyrol and southern Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, southern Poland and Slovakia, forest-steppe regions of Ukraine and southern Russia.
Scientists note that at the end of the 20th century, the range began to expand to the north. The number of these insects has significantly increased in northern Germany; the common mantis has appeared in Latvia and Belarus.
Propagation Features
I must say that it is not easy for a male praying mantis to have a romantic relationship: a female, larger and stronger, can easily eat an unlucky groom, especially during a period when she is not ready for mating or too hungry. Therefore, an ordinary mantis (male) takes all precautions.
Mating season
Noticing the beautiful half, the male begins to sneak up to her much more carefully than to the most dangerous and sensitive prey. The human eye does not catch his movements. It seems that the insect does not move at all, but gradually it approaches the female, while trying to go behind. If the female at this moment turns in his direction, the male freezes in place for a long time, while swaying a little. Biologists believe that these movements are a signal that switches the behavior of the female from hunting to love.
Such a rather peculiar courtship can last up to six hours. It’s better for a cavalier to be a little late for this than hurry up for a minute. The common mantis breeds at the very end of summer. In Russia, they mate from mid-August to early September. The influence of sex hormones provokes an increase in aggressiveness in the behavior of the insect. Cannibalism is not uncommon at this time. The main feature of the common mantis is the devouring by the female male after, and sometimes during mating.
There is a version that a male praying mantis cannot copulate if it has a head, therefore, sexual intercourse in insects begins with an unpleasant procedure for the male - the female tears his head off. However, more often mating occurs without victims, but after its completion, the female eats the male, and even then only in half the cases.
As it turned out, she eats her partner not because of her special bloodthirstiness or harmfulness, but because of the great need for protein in the first stage of egg development.
Progeny
An ordinary mantis, the photo of which you can see in this article, lays eggs in ooteks. This is a special form of laying characteristic of mollusks and cockroaches. It is a horizontal row of eggs, which can be two or more.
The female fills them with a foamy protein substance, which, when solidified, forms a capsule. As a rule, up to 300 eggs are laid. The capsule has a rather solid structure, which easily sticks to plants or stones, protecting the egg from external influences.
Inside the capsule, optimal humidity and temperature are maintained. In the ooteca, eggs cannot die even at temperatures up to -18 ° C. Eggs hibernate in temperate latitudes, and in the southern regions the incubation period is one month.
Larvae
Thirty days later, larvae emerge from the eggs. On their surface are small spikes that help them get out of the capsule. After this, the larvae molt. Later, they lose their skin and become similar to adults, but without wings. The larva of the common mantis is very mobile, it has a protective color.
In most areas of distribution of these insects, the larvae hatch in late April - early May. In two and a half months they molt five times. Only after that they become adult insects. The process of puberty is two weeks, then the males begin to look for their other half for mating. Mantis live in natural conditions - two months. At first, the males die. After mating, they no longer look for prey, they become very lethargic and die quickly. Only survive until September, and the females survive them for a month. Their century ends in October.
Lifestyle and diet
The basis of the mantis diet is insects. The largest individuals (mainly females) often attack lizards, frogs and even birds. An ordinary mantis eats sacrifice slowly. This process can last about three hours, and during the week the food is digested.
It is hard to call a mantis a lover of hiking. Only at the end of summer males radically change their lifestyle: they begin to wander around. Faced with its counterpart, the insect enters the fray, and the loser has a chance not only to die, but also to become dinner for the victorious rival. Of course, in these travels, mantis males are not looking for tournament fame at all, they need the love of a beautiful female.
The habitat of the common mantis is a tree or shrub, but sometimes they can freeze on the grass or on the ground. Insects move from tier to tier, so they can be found both at the top of the crown and at the foot of a tall tree. And another interesting feature: the mantis reacts exclusively to moving targets. Objects motionless to him are uninteresting.
This predator is very gluttonous. An adult insect eats up to seven centimeter cockroaches at a time. It takes about thirty minutes to eat the victim. First, he eats soft tissues, and only after that proceeds to hard ones. Praying mantis leaves limbs and wings from a cockroach. Softer insects are eaten whole. Usually a mantis prefers a sedentary lifestyle. When he has enough food, he lives on the same tree throughout his life.